Archive for the 'Private Equity' Category

• One of the key challenges pension funds face: identifying enough appropriate, local investment opportunities to invest ever-increasing contributions• Deregulation of prescription will unlock capital to flow where it is required in Africa

RisCura’s annual Bright Africa 2018 report is a highly recommended read on Africa’s capital markets. Check out the interactive website and download the short report at brightafrica.riscura.com.

Africa’s pension fund assets are now thought to be $372bn, according to leading pension fund consultancy RisCura. Some 90% of these assets are concentrated in Nigeria, South Africa which has $307bn in AUM, or 82%, Namibia and Botswana. Further, a few large funds dominate, including: Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) in South Africa, Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) in Namibia, Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), and a few large funds in Nigeria.

(NOTE, in a comparable story in 2015 we noted that total pension fund assets in 10 African countries were $379 billion in assets under management (AUM),85% or $322bn of this was based in South Africa. The change since 2015 may partly be due to currency decline at the time of compiling the statistics)

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), total pension fund assets in OECD member countries in 2016 totalled $38 trillion, of which $25trn is held in the US, followed by Canada ($2.4trn) and UK ($2.3trn), the three countries making up 78% of the total pension assets.

In OECD countries, pension funds made up 50% of the economy, measured in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, up from 37% in 2006, while in other countries measured (“non-OECD countries”), they rose to 20% of GDP from 12%.

The table below shows pension fund assets in selected different African markets, according to data collected by RisCura. Assets under management (AUM) total $306.7bn in South Africa (pension AUM are 104% of GDP), $16.8bn in Nigeria (lots of space to grow as pensions are 4% of GDP), $10.7bn in Kenya (16% of GDP), $10.5bn in Namibia (99% of GDP), and $7.2bn in Botswana (48% of GDP). There is huge potential for growth in Egypt where pension AUM are estimated at 1% of GDP, Tanzania (10%) and Uganda (7%), Ghana (7%) and even Zambia (3%).

African Pensions statistics collated by RisCura

In OECD and non-OECD countries, pension fund assets are predominantly invested into bonds and equities, with 45% of assets allocated to equities. As capital markets have grown and regulators have advanced, the proportion of African pension funds invested into equities has increased, but in Nigeria and East Africa local currency bonds predominate. Local regulation is a key driver of asset allocation and often does not match the opportunities: “In many countries assets are growing much faster than products are being brought to market, limiting investment opportunities if regulation does not allow for pension fund to invest outside of their own countries” says RisCura.

“African pension funds have a pivotal role to play in facilitating inclusive growth and social stability. Larger pools of capital allow for investment in economic and capital market development,” argues the Bright Africa report. It says there is an urgent need to build resources: “Local institutional investors add credibility and often serve as a catalyst for greater external interest. Local investors also allow global peers to leverage local knowledge and networks.”

RisCura urges other countries to follow the lead of South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia and Botswana (we can also add Kenya to this list) in allowing pension funds to invest into private equity – in Nigeria the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) allows for 5% of assets into private equity as an asset class, which would amount to $842m on 2016 figures, but 75% must be invested in Nigeria and general partners have to be able to invest at least 3% in the fund, limiting the options and size of investment.

The report also highlights a huge role for supporting Africa’s urgently needed infrastructure development (Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic estimates $93bn per year of investment needed). However, it is important that frameworks created are compatible with the mandates and risk and liquidity factors, as well as “mindful of prudential oversight and limits necessary for pension and savings investment” says RisCura.

For these stats and more on the changing dynamics of retirement in Africa, download the excellent Bright Africa report and visit the interactive website. More than half, 52%, of African males over 65 years and 33% of females were “active in the labour market” in 2015, compared to 10% older men and 6% older women in Europe. Pensions in Africa are also seeking to adapt to the fact that many Africans earn and save informally, including Micro Pension Scheme in Nigeria where the informal sector is thought to be 70% of the workforce with 38m potential contributors and the Mbao Pension Plan of Kenya, using M-Pesa or Airtel Money mobile transfer services.

Congratulations to all the winners and participants of the Private Equity Africa Awards 2017, who attended a glittering night of excellence in finance supporting Africa’s growth. The awards dinner was at the Savoy in London, and the final award-winners were selected by an independent panel of judges (see below) and recommendations from a nomination team at the London Business School Institute of Private Equity. For full details and more photos see Private Equity Africa website and the detailed pages on the awards and speakers.

Winners of 2017 awards were:

Limited Partner (LP) Award: CDC

Outstanding Leadership Award: Ziad Oueslati, co-founding Partner at AfricInvest. Award presented by Runa Alam, Chief Executive Officer at DPI. This was awarded based on voting by leading industry investors.

Venture Philanthropy Africa Award: Helios Investment Partners

House Awards – House of the Year:

Sub-Saharan Africa House of the Year: Development Partners International (DPI)

The awards are an occasion for Africa’s fast-growing private equity industry, focused mostly onto growth equity, to celebrate its achievements and highlight excellence. As a judge, I have been very impressed with the detail, scale and outcomes of some of the deals, which are transformative for many African economies and reflect many months of hard work, inspiration and a wide range of skills including legal, financial and negotiation.

Here are highlights from the presentation by Gail Mwamba, of Private Equity Africa, who organized and led the summit. They are the leading publication on private equity in Africa and have just published a very data driven 2016 annual report supported by global data from Thomson Reuters. For more information and the review (subscribers only) check the website.

Different international data sources have different ways of measuring fund-raising, but both show that 2016 was a hard year, particularly for smaller funds with little record. According to Preqin, $1.3bn was raised for Africa funds in 2016, down from $4.6bn the year before. EMPEA, which measures total fund-raising not just closes for sub-Saharan Africa, measured $1.9bn in 27 fund-raising transactions, down from $3.8bn in 31 transactions in 2015. Africa’s share of emerging markets fundraising was 4.5%, down from 8% in 2015. Globally fund-raising was up but emerging markets lost out. Looking at the charts however, 2015 was an exceptional year and the number is closer to the historical trend.

Source EMPEA

Credit fund-raising showed a similar pattern.

source EMPEA

The number of deals picked up, according to Preqin, with about 100 deals valued at nearly $3bn although Mwamba said the real number of deals was much higher was many are not published. Business services continued the most popular transactions, followed by industrials and then consumer. South Africa continued to attract the most deals (31%) while Nigeria won 11% of deals.

Source: Preqin

The 2016 deals by value were influenced a giant deal by little-known Chinese private equity firm, which paid $1.14bn to acquire Lundin Mining Corporation’s 24% stake in Tenke Fungurume copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other deals were Wendel Group buying Tsebo Solutions, a logistics and facilities services provider with 34,000 employees spread across 23 countries in Africa, for ZAR5.25bn from a consortium led by Rockwood PE. The third deal was Helios investing into Oando Gas and Power.
According to Preqin there were 31 exits at total value of $1.4bn, down from 31 exits valued at $2.1bn in 2015. Two sales by Rockwood (Tsebo and Safripol) influenced the figures. The record high was $20.4bn of exits in 2014.

Fund-raising for African private equity funds was slower in the first three quarters of 2016 compared to the previous year, but investing and deal-making activity was stronger. According to figures recently released by the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), total fund raising by September 2016 was $1.1bn, only 31% of the capital raised in the same period in 2015.
Deal-making was also at $1.1bn according to the EMPEA figures, up 22% from the previous year when it was $0.9bn. However, analysis at Private Equity Africa suggests some $3bn in private equity deals went through in sub-Saharan Africa, using different metrics, suggesting a good year for deals.

A roundup of some recent initial public offers (IPOs) of shares on Africa’s stock exchanges to raise capital

In early October, MTN launched plans to sell up to 35% of shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission Director General Adu Anane Antwi confirmed they had started the listing process and were working on the prospectus but no timeline had been given. According to local reports, MTN received its 15-year 4G licence in 2015 after spending $67.5m and on condition that it lists. It hopes to raise up to $500m.MTN Nigeria is also working on plans for an initial public offer (IPO) of shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2017 which could raise up to $1bn. Nigeria is among several African governments encouraging telcos to list on local bourses and listing is among conditions to settle a record NGN330bn ($1.1bn) fine for failing to disconnect 5.1m unregistered subscribers. Nigeria contributes a third of sales and profit for the Africa’s biggest phone company, which is listed in Johannesburg with market capitalization of ZAR212.8bn ($15.3bn) in early October.
Listings and capital-raising momentum has been maintained on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Deacons Kenya is the first listed fashion retailer, after joining the Alternative Investment Market Segment (AIMS) of the NSE on 2 August. CEO Muchiri Wahome said the extra funds were to fund expansion into towns with “a vibrant middle class” across Kenya, spurred Kenya’s rapid and ambitious devolution and setting up 47 counties under its 2010 Constitution. Deacons is also eyeing opportunities in neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda. It will also help existing shareholders who want to sell. The retailer listed about 123m shares at an opening price of KES15 ($0.15) each, but by early October the price had slumped to KES8.55.

Nairobi centre (credit www.kenya-advisor.com)

In June, leather and shoe retailer Nairobi Business Ventures, which operates the brand KShoe, had become the fifth listing on the NSE’s Growth and Enterprise Market Segment aimed at smaller businesses. It was listed through introduction and valued at KES118m ($1.2m). Previous 2016 share issues included Longhorn Publishers in May. In June power generator Kengen succeeded in the Kenyan bourse’s largest rights issue, raising KES26.4bn ($262.1m) by offering 4.4bn new shares at KES6.55 each, with a 92% subscription rate. Kengen has projects to generate another 700MW of power, of which 605MW is geothermal.
However, Fusion Capital had to cancel its IPO despite extending twice after only getting 38% uptake and four investors for its KES2.3bn offering and failing to meet the minimum threshold.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange had its second private equity listing. Universal Partners raised R1.3bn ($93.7m) in an IPO which was only open for 4-5 August and started trading on the Alt-X market on 11 August. The company was registered in Mauritius in April and also listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Its mandate is to invest in properties across Europe, at £10m-£30m ($12m-$37m) each and it aims to start investing within six months. The IPO was for 72m shares at R18.07 each. Several companies aiming to raise capital for African and international investments have dual-listing on the Mauritius and Johannesburg exchanges.Liberty Holdings is likely to follow up its Kenyan IPO success with a South African Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called Liberty Two Degrees in December. This will include some ZAR6bn of its existing portfolio, including iconic malls around Gauteng, and ZAR4bn of new money. As in Kenya, the property investments are managed by Stanlib.
West Africa’s integrated regional stock exchange, Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres (BRVM), based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, plans to build a platform for listing mining shares and raising capital locally. The exchange is talking with Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX Group), a favourite bourse for early-stage mining entrepreneurs. BRVM General Manager Edoh Kossi Amenounve says it could open by 2018 and will be for companies exploring or operating mines in the region. There is likely to be a waiver to the usual requirement for 2 years of trading history. The BRVM links eight West African countries, including gold exporters Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, and fourth-largest uranium producer, Niger.Egypt’s Minister of Investment Dalia Korshid says the Government aims to raise up to $10bn over the next three to five years with IPOs of government-owned companies in the oil sector but will start with restructuring state-owned electricity companies.

Private equity company Ethos Capital, based in Mauritius, listed on South Africa’s JSE on 5 August after R1.8 billion ($131 million) oversubscribed private placement for institutional investors. The listing is a unique combination of a liquid listed share which invests into a diversified pool of unlisted private equity investments. It is aimed particularly at institutional investors, including pension funds.
Ethos had placed 180m A ordinary shares at R10.00 each. Rand Merchant Bank was the financial advisor, sole global coordinator, bookrunner and JSE sponsor. The first trade on Friday was at R10.26, pushing market capitalization up to R1.85bn.
The new fund starts as a cash shell and will invest into a portfolio of unlisted investments with Ethos Private Equity, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest private equity firm, acting as the new company’s fund manager and advisor.
Stuart MacKenzie, CEO of Ethos Private Equity, said in a press release: “Growth is a central principle of Ethos Private Equity’s strategy: value is added by actively transforming the strategy, operations and finances of investee businesses, striving to make them best-in-class. Through pioneering thought leadership, creativity and innovation, Ethos Private Equity has developed a long track record of sustainable investor returns.”
Peter Hayward-Butt, CEO at Ethos Capital, said: “We look forward to investing alongside Ethos Private Equity into high-potential businesses, supporting economic growth and job creation in the long term whilst simultaneously delivering value to our shareholders.”
Ethos Private Equity has a 32-year history and has invested in 104 acquisitions of which 91 have been realized, delivering investment returns with a gross realised internal rate of return (IRR) of 37.4%.

Stuart Mackenzie, CEO Ethos Private Equity

Ethos Capital is expected to invest into:
• Primary investments into various funds to be raised and managed by Ethos Private Equity. EPE is reported to be planning to fund raise for Ethos VII fund by early 2017, targeting R8bn-R10bn with 25% for investments in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa. Ethos Capital is to commit up to R2.5bn. There is also plans for: a R2.5bn-R3bn Ethos Mid Market Fund I targeting deals of between R100m-R350m which will be majority black-owned and chaired by Sonja de Bruyn Sebotsa, according to Financial Mail, and Ethos Mezzanine Fund I which aims to raise R1.5bn and will be run by a team which formerly operated as Mezzanine Partners.
• Secondary investments by buying interests owned by limited partners (LPs) in existing Ethos funds. This could include up to $600m invested into Ethos VI fund which closed at $800m in 2013 (against a $750m target), according to Private Equity Africa website.
• Direct investments into investee companies alongside Ethos funds
• Temporary investments including a portfolio of low-risk, liquid debt instruments such as South African government bonds and similar instruments, managed by Ashburton Fund Managers.
According to the prospectus, Ethos Capital investors will be charged a management fee of 1.5% of invested net asset value and 0.25% on cash balances. The investors are offered 20% exposure to growth, subject to a 10% hurdle.
Previously Brait, another leading South African private equity company, had listed its portfolio.
Mackenzie says South Africa does not have enough investments in alternative assets such as private equity, according to the Financial Mail, which reports they make up barely 2% of pension fund assets compared with 20% in many developed markets. The listed vehicle will enable funds to share in the outperformance of private equity but will mean they do not have to stay invested for the full fund life, often 10 years.
The report adds that Mackenzie promises investors will not be subjected to a double layer of fees and that Ethos Fund III and IV outperformed listed markets by more than 5% but Fund V, invested in the years before the financial crisis, underperformed listed markets by 2.4%.
A report by RisCura and the SA Venture Capital Association (Savca) shows that private equity in South Africa has generally outperformed the total comparative return of investment of the JSE’s all share and SWIX indices, returning an internal rate of return of 18.5 percent. Over the same period, EPE returned 20.9 percent on realised investments.
Key investors in the private placing reportedly included fund manager giants such as Coronation and Stanlib and emerging managers such as Mergence and Sentio.

Nigeria’s digital payments and payment card giant Interswitch Ltd could become Africa’s first tech “unicorn” or technology company valued at over $1 billion. Private equity firm Helios Investment Partners (majority owner) is preparing to sell and Citigroup Inc are hired to handle the sale, which could involve an initial public offer (IPO) and listing on the London and Lagos stock exchanges.
Website TechCrunch reported that Interswitch has 32 million customers for its “Verve” chip-and-PIN cards and its Quickteller digital payment app processed $2.4 billion in transactions. It processes most of Nigeria’s electronic bank, government and corporate transactions.
A subsequent report from Bloomberg says Helios paid $92 million for a 52% stake in 2010.
Techcrunch contributor Jake Bright (Twitter @JakeRBright, co-author of The Next Africa: An Emerging Continent Becomes a Global Powerhouse) reports that Interswitch CEO and founder Mitchell Elegbe told him no final decision has yet been made and they are also mulling the option of a trade sale.

Mitchell Elegbe CEO Interswitch (from www.naij.com)

Bright’s Techcrunch report also cites Eghosa Omoigui, Managing Partner of EchoVC, a Silicon Valley fund investing in African start-ups: “They’ve already selected the ibankers and will likely go public sometime between Q2 to Q4 at (or close to) a $1 billion dollar valuation–roughly two times revenues,”.
Bright points out that there are strong tech opportunities for ventures focused on digital commerce and payments, and cites research by Crunchbase that VC investors put $400m into African consumer goods, digital content and fintech-oriented startups. Helios and Adlevo Capital back ventures such as MallforAfrica (e-commerce) and Paga (payments).
Although Kenya has the spotlight still, because of the runaway success of Safaricom’s M-PESA product, which has 13m customers and generated $300m in revenues for Safaricom in 2014, consumers in Nigeria are projected to generate $75bn in e-commerce revenue by 2020. See this McKinsey report on future consumer spending trends in a youth-driven market.
Interswitch – motto “bills aren’t fun but payments solutions can be” – is still building digital finance market share in Nigeria and in 2014 bought Kenya’s Paynet and also has operations in Uganda, Tanzania and Gambia. The IPO could support plans to expand into more countries – Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana were mentioned in an earlier Bloomberg article.
Elegbe, age 43 years, founded Interswitch in 2002.
Bloomberg reports that if this goes ahead, it will be one of the few private equity exits at a valuation of over $1 billion. It also cites Bain Capital’s $1.2bn exit from South African retailer Edcon’s private label store cars in 2012, sold to Barclays Absa unit. It says increasing use of e-commerce worldwide makes payments-processing industry a “structural growth market”.
The London Stock Exchange has more than 120 African listings.
In its 2010 press release, Helios described the company: InterSwitch provides shared, integrated message broker solutions for financial transactions, eCommerce, telecoms value-added services, eBilling, payment collections, 2 and also administers Verve, the leading card scheme in Nigeria. The Verve card, which is currently issued by 16 out of the 24 banks in Nigeria, is the first and only chip-and-pin card accepted across multiple payment channels including Automated Teller Machine (“ATMs”), Point of Sale (“POS”) terminals, online, mobile and at banks. InterSwitch has been at the forefront of the development and growth of the epayment sector in Nigeria which is evidenced by its unique position of being the only switching and processing company connected to all banks in the country as well as over 10,000 ATMs and 11,000 POS terminals. In addition, InterSwitch is the leading processor for Mastercard and the market leader in merchant acquiring/POS, a segment which is still emerging and has potential for tremendous growth in Nigeria. Babatunde Soyoye, Managing Partner and Co-founder of Helios added: “InterSwitch is a Nigerian success story having been led by a superb management team and benefiting from the foresight, innovation and support of its founding shareholders, and a supportive regulator in the Central Bank Nigeria.”

Congratulations to the winners of the 2015 Private Equity Africa Awards! These celebrate the achievements of Africa’s top General Partners (GPs) and advisors in 2014. The awards are in their 4th year and were handed out at a gala dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 29 April.

Outstanding leadership award: Runa Alam, Chief Executive Officer, Development Partners International
This accolade is awarded based on voting by leading industry investors.

House of the yearSub-Saharan House of the Year: Carlyle Africa
Award collected by Marlon Chigwende, Managing Director and head of Africa team at Carlyle.

Exit of the year:
Mansard Insurance by Development Partners International & AfricInvest
Award collected by Idris Mohammed, Partner at Development Partners International, and Hakim Khelifa, Senior Partner and Co-Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at AfricInvest.

Deal of the yearLarge-cap deal of the year: Helios Towers Africa by Helios
Award collected by Henry Obi, Partner at Helios.

Mid-cap deal of the year: J&J Africa by Carlyle
Award collected by Marlon Chigwende, Managing Director and head of the Africa team at Carlyle.

Schulze Global Investments is the longest-established private equity firm in Ethiopia. It is run by a family office and is extremely well networked. It has made several deals, but apparently no exits yet although prospects are improving.
SGI Ethiopia has also not been much in the media. In this interview, Dinfin Mulupi of HowWeMadeItinAfrica.com interviews Blen Abebe, vice president at SGI Ethiopia, who highlights the importance of a local team for successful private equity. For the full story, have a look at the original interview here.

Blen Abebe (photo reprinted from HowWeMadeItinAfrica)

So how has SGI been able to navigate this unique environment?

At Schulze Global, most staff are Ethiopian-Americans and the fact that you look Ethiopian and speak the native language ensures the locals can relate to us. For example, we have closed deals partly because we were on the ground and could relate better to locals than other private equity firms. And it makes sense, because most family businesses have been passed down through generations so they wouldn’t necessarily trust, or be willing to work with, you before they get to know you. That is why Schulze Global ensures it has people who know both the foreign and local culture.
What are some of the challenges SGI faces in Ethiopia?

Well, being the first one on the ground can have both positive and negative effects. For example, when Schulze Global opened its office back in 2008 most people had never heard of private equity. So we literally had to go through a teaching process of what it was we are doing. And to add to that, most companies confuse us with a bank so we must almost always explain the difference between a private equity firm and a bank.

After they understand the private equity structure, then the next challenge is agreeing to the terms that are in the term sheet.

Do you see in the future any likelihood of an exit?
We haven’t done any exits yet, but the future looks positive as we are seeing many entrants into the market. Therefore an exit via a strategic buyer should be attainable.

With more private equity funds coming in, how will things play out?
Competition is definitely increasing. We see it already. In fact, in one deal we are currently looking at, the sponsor is telling us they are also being courted by another fund. But our strength has always been that we have been in Ethiopia the longest, so we know what works and what doesn’t. And that long presence, even a small thing like knowing where our office is and the fact that they can visit us anytime, gives the local sponsors comfort – and at the same time gives us some leverage compared with other funds using the “fly-in and fly-out” model.